“Christ invites us to remain in touch with the many sufferings of every day and to taste the beginning of hope and new life right there, where we live amid our hurts and pains and brokenness.”
Henri Nouwen

Tabs

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Holy long day, Batman

I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon. Just a monthly, routine appointment with my OB. Even though our day "officially" ends at 3:25, I had gotten permission from my principal to leave at 3:15 in order to get to Minnetonka by 4:00. I got there with a few minutes to spare and took my seat in the waiting room.

4:00. 4:15. 4:30.

Finally, I was called in, which didn't mean anything. The nurse took my blood pressure (100/58, thank you very much), recorded my weight (won't be sharing that one, thank you very much), and said the doctor was running a little late but he'd be with me as soon as he could. After reading GQ, Good Housekeeping, and Reader's Digest in the waiting room, I surveyed the magazine selection in the exam room. Child, Parenting, Working Mother, Glamour, More (for woman over 40), and Organic Living. I settled in with Working Mother and my box of kleenex, as I'd been battling allergies all weekend and was getting to the point where I could hardly breathe.

4:45. 5:00. 5:15.

A nurse came in and told me that the doctor was almost finished and he should be right in. Whatever. Let me get back to my reading.

5:20. 5:25.

A new nurse came in and said the doctor was very sorry and he would be with me in five minutes. I forced a smile and blew my nose.

True to the new nurse's word, the doctor showed up at 5:30. An hour and a half after my appointment time. And, of course, I wasn't with him for more than ten minutes. We heard the heartbeat, he checked for swelling in my ankles, and asked if I had any problems or questions. (Why the hell are you running so late?) The one good thing was that before I left, he faxed in a prescription for Nasonex, since I can't take my "go-to" Claritin and Benadryl knocks me out for weeks at a time.

So as I left, I decided to stop at Bruegger's for some chicken spaetzel soup. When I walked in, an hour from closing time, they were ALL out of soup. Very bummed. So I got a sandwich. Not quite the same healing elements, but still dinner.

When I got home, Dan offered to run to Target to pick up my prescription. He called me from the pharmacy saying that they didn't have any record of the prescription being faxed in. After a bit of an ordeal, they called the Park Nicollet urgent care line, pulled up my file, saw that I had been issued the prescription, and were able to fill it. Dan arrived home with Nasonex and sudafed.

Stupidly, I took both and went to bed. When my mom was going through chemo, she got a terrible sinus infection in the middle of everything and ended up having a horrible time with sudafed. In her own words, it was like speed. Not that she knows what that's like, the little hippie that she is. Anyway, she couldn't sleep. And neither could I last night. I slept for a couple hours, then woke up at midnight and was WIDE awake. To the best of my recollection I fell asleep again around 4:00, and dozed off a couple times before my alarm went off at 5:30. I feel like a zombie. I probably should have called in sick, but I'm saving my sick days so I can get paid during my maternity leave!

Well, that was a lot of babbling. If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. :)

On another note, I would greatly appreciate your prayers this afternoon. I am meeting with my professor at Bethel to review my portfolio, and find out what I will have to re-do. (See post "Mean People Suck"). I'm not really looking forward to it, but I'll be happy to get the meeting over with.

And yes, why do I keep showing up on time for dr. appts? I could show up at least 30 minutes late each time and not miss a beat. I guess I'm afraid they will cancel me all together. They have all the power! STINKERS! (said like an old lady)

woah... somehow I totally missed reading your blogs... i don't know when I stopped, but I know I just commented on the "surprise" one and just scrolled down now to notice the "List" and then clicked on the link that was for "sudafed" and this post... Wow... I've really been out of it I guess.